Device for the transportation of goods



March 12, 1935. a. A. E. MOREAU ,9

DEVICE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF eoon's Filed July 27, 1933 3Sheets-Sheet -1 March 12, 1935. s. A. E. MOREAU 1,994,399

DEVICE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS Filed July 27, 1953 3Sheets-Sheet 2 March 12, 1935. Q G. A. E. MOREAU 1,994,399

DEVICE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS Filed July 27, 1933 5Sheets-Sheet 5 [22 1 622 far G'asianAadre Elie flared? xx fyf' m LAfforzzgyw Patented Mar. 12, 1935 v UNITED- STATES PATENT OFFICE,1,994,393 I y DEVICE FOR THE TRANSPORTATION F GOODS Y Gaston Andre ElieMoreau, Boulogne-sur-Scine,

France Application ,July 2'1, 1933, Serial no. 682,509

. l In Belgium August 5, 1932 7 Claims. (01. 214-1) receive the goodsand. provided with means permitting of easily transferring them from onevehicle to another. 7 i i The object of my invention is to providedevices of that kind that are better adapted to meet the requirements ofactual practice, especially concerning the facility of transshipment,and the fixation of the container to the vehicle for transportation. V

.To this effect, according to my invention, in order to transship thecontainers from one vehicle to another one, for instance from a railwaytruck to a lorry or inversely, instead of making use of railspermanently fixed to 'saidvehicles, I provide on each of saidcontainers, several detachable rail elements such that, during thetransportation: the container may rest on at least two of them, the.other elements being secured on certain faces of the container, andthat, when the container is to be transshipped from one vehicle toanother, these other ele-' ments may be brought into line with the firstmentioned ones so as to permit of moving the container from one vehicleto the other.-along the rails thus assembled.

Other features of my invention will appear from the following detailedconstruction. it

Preferred embodiments of my invention'will be hereinafter described withreference to the accompanying drawings given merely by way of example,and in which: w

Figs. 1 and 2 are elevational views at right angles to each othershowing a container according to my invention provided-with means forpermitting its easy transshipment from one vehicle to another; Fig. 3 isan elevational view, partly in section, of a coupling device carried bythe rail elements that serve to the transshipment, according to myinvention; 7 a Fig. 4 is a partial view, partly in section, of anotherembodiment of this coupling device;. Figs. 5 and 6 show in elevationalandiplan view respectively, a device for securing the rail elementstothe container according to my invention; Figs. 7 to 11 arediagrammatic elevational views showing the whole. of a-railway truck, amotor lorry and a container according to my invention, in five difierentrelativepositions sucllorries. were provided with rails fixed thereto inlorry in a well determined position with respect cessively occupied bythe frame withrespect to the two vehicles during the transshipment.

According to my invention, the container is 'made i'n'the usual mannerof a box, which may or not be capable of being taken to pieces, of a 5substantial parallelepipedic shape, for instance substantially cubic,and providedwith means for facilitating its transshipment as will behereinafter described.

. Up to this time, saidmeans were of two kinds: 10

Either one made use of improved hauling apparatus of a very expensivekind, and with which accordingly railway stations of small importancecould .not be equipped, or the railway cars and.

15 a stationary manner so that the containers could be moved along. saidrails for transshipping them. J, i

The latter, solution is not better than the first because, on the onehand .it requires a special equipment of the railway cars and of thelorries which involves difi'iculties of exploitation and is veryexpensive, and on the other hand it makes it necessary, .for the.transshipment, to place the 25 to the railway car, so that therespective rails maybe brought in exact register, which constitutes adifficult and long operation.

According to my invention, and in order to avoid these many drawbacks, Icombine with each container a certain number of detachable railelements; These "rail elements are so arranged that, on the one hand,while the container is being transported on a vehicle, either a railwaycar or a lorry, said container may rest onat least two of isaid'railelements, while at least some of, the other elements can be secured tocertain faces of the container. On the other hand, when the container isbeing transferred from one] vehicle to the other, these other elemntsare, brought in line with the first ones so as .to permit oftransferring the container onto the second vehicle along the rail trackthus constituted. r

Preferably these elements are so arranged that they can be connectedtogether by detachable coupling means so that it is possible to assemblethem as wellin their positionsv for transportation, as in theirpositionsfor transshipment.

To this effect, said rail elements may for instance be made in thefollowing manner:

. Three pairs of rail elements of the kind above referred toareprovided, as follows:

On the one hand there are provided two pairs of rails aka of equallength, said length being 55 so chosen that one or the other of thesetwo pairs can support container 1) during transportation on one of thevehicles, said container then resting on said pair of rails through twoseries of rollers being carried along sectional irons d rigidly fixed tothe bottom of said container; the two rails that support thecontainerare disposed either at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the car,when the container is carried by the railway car, orparallelly to ..the

longitudinal axis of the lorry and substantially at equal distance fromsaidaxis whenithecontainer has been transshipped to a lorry.

On the other hand a third ,pair of rails e, both of a length eitherequa'htothat 'o'f' rails a a or different therefrom, for instancesmaller than it is shown in the drawings g iven by way applied againstsaid-flangesand :of a relatively great width, so as to distributetheir-Iweight over aagreater surface on thez-fioonofuthe can or of thelorry, and also to.improve-stability.

As for the means for: assembling togetherzsaid rails, they are made in,such xmannercthatnone of-the above mentioned pairs :can be assembledindifierently to any of thestwovotheripairs. .I accordingly makeriusewof .u'ointedandi removable coupling means, each. railbeingqlrovidedflto' this effect for instance with a male couplingelement ,f and afemale .icouplingielement ,fzx'a't iboth of itsendsrrespectively. e

Said jointed and idetachable .?coupling .means can be made in anysuitablexmanrisr, for'fli-nstance :by, utilizing. a footter gladapted todoeiinserted-in holes providediinssaid male-.tari'dfifemale couplingelements a (Fig. 3 cotter is :kept in position:byrsuitableIIQekmgmeanssuch :as-a

key pivoted for i'inst'ance about again i -within a corresponding.cavity-' i provided: inasaid c'otter. With this arrangement cotter g oanbe removed only when .key iL-is .bn'ought-into -a olireotion .parallelto the axis oofdsaid cotter g.

Of course. It'idOiIlOtlWiSh tOJbe limited t'o this embodimen'tuofthewcoupling meansg arid l have shown in: Fig. 4 another 'embodimentbfsuitable coupling means. Accordingl to thisembodiment, cotter :g is:permanently fixed 'to the u female coupling element 7?,Ian'd 'it iisprovided wvith flat faces so. that itrisupossibleato introduce-saidcotter into the correspondingi hole of the imale coupling element,by1causing said flat iace's to pass between correspondingflat isuriaces' h 'of coupling element f .The corresponding r'ails are thenpivoted with respectntoieachs other so as to bring them into theirrespective positi'ons of utilization. I a

With the 'arrang'e'ment shown in F i'g. g it suffices, in order tointroduce -cotter g into hole h to dispose the-rails to be assembled insuch manner that their a xes m'ake w-ith: ea'oh -other' an angle of 45.I

Advantageou'sly, rails -e= will be gi-ven a-heig'ht smaller i than thatof 4 rails d ,:a in: order that, when the rails are:assembled 'fortmnsshipment (Figs. t8-to 10) and the horizontal-surfacesof the railwaycar and of :the lorry aredispo'sed at difierent levels, rails e couldnot, if they are somewhat slightly inclined for this reason, buttagainst the edges of the floor of the railway car or of the lorry.

With the'device that has just been described,

there are provided on four lateral faces of the container or at least ontwo lateral parallel faces thereof} fixation means for locking the.container with respect to' the pair of rails, for instance a such thatthe container is perfectly secured to the vehicle bywhich it istransported. The fixation means above referred to comprise forinstance"a .plate is rigidly connected to the container, two threadedrods Z, a cross member m --andtwo-levers-n provided with screw threaded*holeswa-dapted'to engage-on said rods Z..(Figs; 5 :and fi). .f' I

I To. facilitate transportation and in; :order 1 to still improve thefixation'ofcontainer. b with re: I

speot-to 'la'lls'fl on which its rests, rails a will advantageously befastened to the corresponding .la'teral face of the-container by meansof fixation devices such as those just'above described, the ends of:said rails-e being-connected torails :a .by cotters.;y. :-i h a JI'hesefixation zmeans will then be somade that they can cooperate as.we'llwwvithzrailswa 'or .azjasuwith rails e, which= areof-tshortenclength. Of coursezI idOTlOt-WiSh :fixationcmeans. a I

'In the:;precedingdescription, it has beenassumedwthatithei-rollers cthroughwhichthe-con- :tainer slides .on 2 the rails, are ztcarried byiisaid container. .But' it "is obvious that. these :ro'll'ers r'canz'be.su'pported byithergroups ofizrails .a ,:a3, e.

In this.icase,atransshipment willi'be1 zierformedflcyv'causingssectional. irons integral iwithzithe'z bottom ofrthe container:or rigidly fixed ithereto to .slide over 'saidrollers, whensaid-x'group'iof rails 'have ."been-:assembled. YI'hese "rollers mayalso be reaplaced byrcylinders. 1. I a iwhenrrollers are utilizedtheyican be either of the grooved type or of f therailway car vvheeltype. 1.

According Lto another :'.embodiment of :my. invention,'r=relating-I:-tothe casein which. rollersare used-,r'said.rollers may' be 'disposed no'tunderx the container but olaterally -'.thereto,-- in which case those ofthe rails a a 6 thatrareiintendedzto' be fixed on theslateral faces ofthe container, would be secureds notpon-the faces, at right angles ;tothe direction: in: which transshipment. isv effected,- but onthefacesparallel tothisdirection. According to my invention, I- obtain a.device which works in the followingmanner: Supposing first for Iinstanoe'that the container is on a railway car, .it rests on a pair ,ofrails. a I

dispo'se'dat right angles to the "longitudinal: axis of thecar. In theposition of transportationlthis pair'o'f" rails "0. is'assembledby'meansof cotters to belimited to these When it is'desired'to V a lorry, thelatter is p can then be detached-arid placed on'the floor "of the lorry.The levers n that-fix rails e are then unscrewed and thecorresp'ondingcross members m are swung aside; If the lorry'i's located opposite railse, the latter are 'the'rr'flappewback against the floor ofthelorry (Fig.'7) ,'the latter being supposed to be at-asuitable distance from therailwaycar. If the lorry is located'onthe opposite side, cotters g areremoved and rails e, are transferred to the opposite side, beingassembledtothe ends of rails a that were previously-"connected withrailsa j 1 Rails a are then fixed in line with rails'eby means ofcotters gjwhichiarejnow available.

Rails e thus form abridge"across'the space between the railway car andthe lorry f Container 1) is ,then caused torun successively along railsa railse and rails a? Container b is now located on'thelorryfon thefloor of whichit rests through] rails a As rails e and a are now free,they can be fixed on to the container in the manner above described,rails 11 occupying the place previously occupied by rails a Ifnecessary, the whole of railsa}, a e can be strengthened byeross'piecesduring transshipment. It will readily be understood that such adevice makes it possible to do away with all the drawbacks above pointedout, since it makes it possible to utilize railway cars and lorries thathave no special equipment, and it does not necessitate a very greataccurateness of the respective positions of the railway car and of thelorry during the transshipment.

Of course this device can be combined with a mechanism of any suitablekind for actuating rollers during transshipment.

My device can also be utilized for transferring a container from onerailway car to another railway car, the twocars being then disposedeither in line with each other, or parallel to each other (the rails athat support the container being in each case disposed in a suitabledirection with respect to the axis of the car). In a likewise manner,the device could be used for transshipping the container from a railwaycar to a lorry by bringing such lorry in parallel position with respectto the car. It might also be used for unloading containers from arailway car or from a lorry, to the ground.

While I have described what I deem to be practical and efficientembodiments of my invention, it should be well understood that I do notwish to be limited thereto as there might be changes made in thearrangement, disposition and form of the parts without departing fromthe principle of my invention as comprehended within the scope of theappended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A device for the transportation of goods and their transshipment fromone vehicle to another, which comprises in combination, a containeradapted to receive said goods, a plurality of rail elements associatedwith said container in such manner that there is always at least onepair of them that supports said con-' tainer, means for removably andinterchangeably securing the other rail elements to the container, andcoupling means for assembling said rail elements in line with oneanother, whereby the container can be caused to move along the trackwaythus constituted from the pair of rail elements on which it rested toanother pair of rail elements placed on the vehicle to which it is -tobe trans'shipped.

2-. A device forthe transportation of goods and their transshipment fromone vehicle to another, which-comprises in combination, a

containeradapted to receive said goods, a plueither connecting with therail elements that support thecontainer the other rail elements whenthey are fixed to the container orassembling all the rail elements atthe end of one another, whereby the container can be caused to slidealong the trackway thus constituted from the pair of rail elements onwhich it rested to another pair of rail elements placed on the vehicleto which the container is to be transshipped.

-'-3. A device for the transportation of goods and their transshipmentfrom one vehicle to another, which comprises in combinationi, a

container adapted to receive said goods, a plurality'of rail elementsassociated with said container in such manner that there is always atleast one pair of them that slidably supports said container, aplurality of rollers carried by the under face of said container andadapted to run along said rail elements, means for removably andinterchangeably securing the other rail elements to the container, andcoupling means for assembling said rail elements in line with oneanother so that the container can be caused to slide along the trackwaythus constituted from the pair of rail elements on which it rested toanother pair of rail elements placed on the vehicle to which it is to betransshipped.

4. A device for the transportation of goods and their transshipment fromone vehicle to another, which comprises] in combination, a containeradapted to receive said goods, a plurality of rail elements associatedwith said container in such manner that there is always at least onepair of them that supports said container, a plurality of rollersinterposed between the under face of said container and the lastmentioned rail elements, means for removably and interchangeablysecuring the other rail elements to the container, and removablecoupling means for either connecting with the rail elements that supportthe container the other rail elements when they are fixed to thecontainer or assembling all the rail elements at the end of one another,whereby the container can be caused to slide along the trackway thusconstituted from the pair of rail elements on which it rested to anotherpair of rail elements placed on the vehicle to which the container is tobe transshipped.

5. A device for the transportation of goods and their transshipment fromone vehicle to another, which comprises in combination, a containeradapted to receive said goods, two interchangeable pairs of rails ofequal length one of which always supports the container, a plurality ofrollers interposed between said container and the last mentioned pair ofrails, means for removably fixing the other pair of rails to one face ofthe container, a third pair of rails,'means for removably fixing thelast mentioned pair of rails to one face of the container, and coupling-means for r-assembl-ing Hthe three pairs of rails in line, -Whereby-the container-i can be caused to, slide along thetrackway-ithuswconstituted from the pair of rails end-Which-'it:res-ted--to anotherpair of railsuplacedion-the vehicle to .whichthe container-is to betranssmpped 6. A device for the transportation ofgoods and their transshipment from one vehiclewto another, whichcomprises in combination,-.azcon tainer 'adaptedto receive said-goods,twointerchangeable ;pairs'of railsdof equallengthone a of which alwayssupports said container,ia-plurality -:of:ro11ers carriedbythe-under-iaceeof said.- container andinterposed between fsaid-container and the last mentioned pair --of rails, "means forremovablyqfixing the other ,pair-of rails to one'face-ofthe container,.aithird pair .of rails, *means for tremovably -fixing :the, -1astmentioned pair of rails .-to one'face of the-con- ;tainer, andremovablecoupling: meansrforeither connecting with the rails that support thecontainer the two other pairs of rails iwhenathey are fixed to thecontainer or assembling '-all the 'rail elements-at the end :Qf voneanother, whereby :the, containercan be K caused -tows1ide along thetrackway; thus constituted from the .pair of rails on which it restedtoanother-pair meaacae :ofi-rai-ls placed'ron the=vehic1e"to' xivhich'ithecom f tainerrismto gbe transshipped. H

V -.'I. -'A device for ,the;.-t1:ansportation f goods .and \theirtransshipment z-from one ,vehiole to another, -rcomprises ,afn oombination, a container adapted to receiye said goods, twoflin-,terchangeabIe-paim' vof railstot equal .-1ength-. one of which alwayssupports said container, .3, plunality oflrollers ear-fied byntheundermfacei of saidtcontainer and interpced between said con- 5 tainerandythe 1ast .mentioned ;pair of rr'a ils, .means rfor tremovably :Ztheother .pair- 'pf rails to one 'face 6f the container, a thind mair .ofrailsvofashorter: length, means ior 'remoyably fixing xJtl'ietlastlmenmonea pairiinr trails to an- ,other ;'face ,of Qthe {,ctizitaintgr,and removable coupling/means zfor ieither .connecting with tithe

